Katar: The Last Waterbender
by Gaijin Mizuki
Summary: What would the Avatar Universe have been like if the main characters' genders had been reversed? How would this have changed the characters we all know and love? "I'm Aann, and this Appa, my flying bison." "I'm Saka, and this is Katar, my flying brother." "That's why I will train you, Lady Zuka," Iroh announced. "Alright. We'll join you," she agreed. Part 2 coming soon!
1. Chapter 1

_What would the Avatar Universe have been like if the main characters' genders had been reversed? How would this have changed the characters we all know and love?_

_All adult characters will remain their original gender. Only the Gaang and their counterparts will change genders and ages. Note that Toph and Ty Lee kept their names, as I felt these names were pretty gender neutral. Sokka's name is still pretty much pronounced the same, and Suki's is pretty close depending on your accent. The names ending in 'a' pretty much just dropped the vowel to make it more masculine, and Mai's name had an addition to make it a masculine vernacular. I couldn't think of anything closer to Aang that Anne and spelled it according to his original name's spelling. Zuko's name I pretty much just changed from a masculine vowel to a feminine vowel. I tried to keep them as close to the original as possible to make it easier to follow the flow of the story. I played around with Suki's name some because I felt every other alternative was too close to the femZuko and would have just been too confusing._

_Zuka(Zoo'-kah)- Zuko, age 17_

_Katar(Kah-tar')- Katara, age 20_

_Saka(Saw'-kah)- Sokka, age 17_

_Tsake(Ss-key')- Suki, age 20_

_Toph(Tawph)- Toph, age 17_

_Aann(Anne)- Aang, age 14_

_Azul(Ah-zool')- Azula, age 14_

_Maito(My'-toe)- Mai, age 14_

_Ty Lee(Tie'-Lee)- Ty Lee, age 14_

_Appearance:_

_I Googled our characters to see what other people would have thought the Gaang looked like if their genders were reversed, and I thought that the depiction of Katar was pretty much spot on, So I'm going to go with the half-up pony tail with the two braids that would have been his hair loopies, all hitting the top of his shoulders. I picture his physique kinda like Korra's in LOK, but a little more defined, broader in the shoulders. Saka I kinda picture tall and thin, not curvy at all, with hair that hit the bottom of her shoulders pulled into a pony tail at the base of her neck. Aann I picture much like Jinora but instead of her hair curving around her face, it being straight and falling flat with the front shaved and no knot, just completely loose. Toph I picture very skater-boyish. Shaggy wavy hair that just hits his collar and bangs that cover his eyes. I picture him deceptively thin and fail-looking- small, about equal height with Aann. Azul I picture to be athletic but not particularly broad, much like Zuko at 13 with the same ponytail hairstyle Zuko wore before his banishment. Ty Lee will, of course, still be just as flamboyant, tall and thin like a male dancer, with a long, high ponytail. Maito I picture looking a little older for his age, broad shouldered with mid-shoulder length hair left loose and bangs cut straight across his eyebrows. His face would be very angular. _

_Zuka is the character design I struggled the most with. I tried to picture her still very feminine with the scar across her face, but all I could see was a young boy. So I changed her scar up a bit. Instead of covering her left side of her face, it covers her left shoulder and collar down her arm to her elbow, across her neck all the way up to her ear, and the left side of her chest. This still makes her mark visible with traditional fire nation clothing and uniforms and would perceptively ruin her feminine figure. Any young woman with a scar like that would feel less confident in their appearance (especially when the Fire Nation casual wear leaves so much of the top half uncovered) and Zuka would see this scar as a mark of shame. Her hair in season one would be in braids on the left side, pulling her hair away from her scar to display her shame like Zuko did by shaving his head, and it would be cut short, probably barely touching her collar in season one and hanging loose and flat on the right side. Facially, I'd expect her to look like Azula, but softer, more like their mom, especially in the forehead with a slightly wider forehead than Azula, accentuating her softness. I'd expect her to be slightly curvier than Azula to give her a more feminine look, and shorter than Azula. Her short, soft, feminine look would only add to Azul's jealousy that she was ahead of him in the line of secession. In season two, her hair would be pulled to the side in a loose braid to cover her scar, and in season three she would have bangs that reached her chin like Azula's but she'd keep the length pulled back in a high ponytail that reached her shoulders, revealing the scar she was no longer ashamed of._

_A/N: I know Zutara month is over, but December is SO BUSY! I read a two-shot with this sort of idea, and I don't know why I haven't thought about it before because I LOVE GENDER BENDERS! Now, most fandoms I like the change in gender wouldn't alter the events of the canon storyline so much, but with the cultural and familial influences of the A:TLA universe it's going to change things a little bit, but I'm going to make sure to hit all of the main points. Once we get to season 2, though, things are going to divert immensely. We'll have the cannon Sukka pairing, as well as one-sided Kataang, and just because I think that their opposing personalities compliment each other (and I think Toph deserves more than to be left by 2 baby-daddies, though it's entirely possible that she's the one who did the leaving) I'm pairing Taang together. And as a hard-core shipper of the best non-cannon couple in all of fandom, this story WILL be a Zutara ship! So, without further ado..._

_All Aboard! _

**Katar: The Last Waterbender**

**Book One**

{Preface}

Heartbreak

It was spring time, not that you could tell. The Southern Watertribe never melted. Year-round, white covered the ground except for a brief time in the summer, when the rain hit and the frozen wasteland became a sheet of blue ice. The soft, spring snow fell around them lightly, reflecting the sunlight that was gracing their village more and more each day. It was perfect snowball fighting weather, and their parents had dismissed them from their morning chores to go out and enjoy the few seasons of childhood they had left.

Katar would be twelve that year, and that would make him ready for warrior training at the end of the summer. He would go ice dodging with his father and receive his tribal tattoo when he went on his first whale hunt with the other warriors. His sister was jealous. She was only nine but already she was learning the ins and outs of womanhood, sewing and cooking, which she was terrible at. She'd much rather be hunting and training with her older brother. Their father indulged her, and had allowed her to start practicing with her boomerang when the sun had finally started showing at the end of winter. Saka had been so excited and proud of herself when by mid-spring she had mastered her aim with the weapon.

Her aim with a snowball was pretty good, too. Katar sputtered when a glump of wet, cold slush hit him square in the face. Saka rolled on the ground laughing as he shook his parka to dislodge the clumps that made their way inside.

"I'll show you, you little pipsqueak," he growled playfully, rolling the biggest snowball he knew he could throw a decent distance.

He was just getting ready to launch it when the first flurry of grey passed his face. He looked up at the sky and the snowball hit the ground.

Black snow.

The Fire Nation had come.

Instantly, ice ran through his veins. No Fire Nation ships had raided their village since before he was born. They'd taken the last of the Waterbenders when his Grangran was a young woman, and had quit harassing their village shortly before Katar was born after deciding that all of the Waterbenders had been captured and the line of Southern Waterbenders had ended.

Except for Katar.

His Grangran had left the Northern Watertribe at seventeen. Shortly after she had arrived in the Southern Watertribe, she had married Katar's Grandpop, and her father was born three short months later. It was no secret that her Grandpop was not her father's biological dad, but the man who'd fathered him hadn't followed the young maiden from the Northern Watertribe, and everyone assumed that he had died facing the Fire Nation. After all, if Katar was a Waterbender, that meant that there had to have been a Waterbender in his lineage at some point within the last few generations.

"Go find Mom," Katar ordered his little sister, "I'm going to look for Dad."

Katar and Saka ran in opposite directions, and Katar looked as he passed the homes of his family and friends burning to the ground as the Fire Nation faced off against his people. He kicked the leg of a Firebender who had a warrior pinned, and the man fell flat on his back. Katar continued on as the Firebender continued to face off again the warrior, who had regained his footing. Finally, he was able to see his father across the village and raced towards him, only to be cut off by a stream of fire. He cried out, and he heard his father calling his name in panic. The Firebender smirked at him as flames danced on his fingertips. Katar was just about to whip a line of snow across his face when the soldier gasped and fell to the ground. His father stood behind him, panting from excursion, club still raised above the would-be attacker's head. The man dropped the club, grabbed his shoulders, and looked him over.

"Are you okay? You're not hurt?"

Katar shook his head mutely and his father nodded.

"Good, good," he sighed in relief and stood, gathering the boy who was almost too big to carry in his arms.

"Dad!" he protested.

"You can't be here," his father said as they rushed deeper into the village, away from the main fight, "they can't find you."

"Dad!" Saka called, "Dad, there's a strange man in our house!"

"Kya!" he gasped, and suddenly they were changing direction. He'd set Katar on his feet and held both children's hands as they all raced towards their home.

Their home that was, other than the burnt pile of ashes lying in the floor, completely empty with the exception of a small blue pendent.

{Chapter One}

The Girl In The Iceberg

_Eight Years Later_

"Come on, Saka, we've been out here all day. We're not going to find anything here."

"Just wait! I know there's fish here. Dad always talked about fishing here," the fourteen-year-old protested.

Katar sighed and leaned back against the end of the canoe, a stream of water flowing around his hands in a figure eight. He'd been getting better at bending, even without anyone to teach him. At around fourteen, about two years after their dad had taken the warriors and left him to protect the village, he had finally started to make some progress with his bending. He'd pushed and pulled with the tides, and danced with the moonlight reflecting off of the gentle waves during the winter solstice. He'd learned to melt and re-freeze ice and snow, and had started crafting ice bricks for the watch tower that Saka had insisted they needed to protect them from invaders, her obsession since they had lost their mother.

Though he hadn't had much chance to learn how to use his bending defensively, he used it to guide the fish closer to make them easier to catch, and to clear the snow and ice after particularly bad storms, and to make repairs to their igloos so that they didn't have to live in the tents anymore, which couldn't withstand the winter winds.

As a fish swam near his side of the canoe, he guided it into his little bubble and lifted it out of the water over the top of their canoe.

"Saka, look-"

"Sh, Katar, you'll scare the fish away," she whispered, leaning closer to the water.

"But, Saka-"

She lifted her spear, and the end of it hit the bubble Katar had created, popping it all over Saka's head and depositing the fish back into the icy river.

"Why is it," she whined, holding her arms up for inspection as the water dripped off of her hides, "that every time you play with magic water, _I'm_ the one that gets wet?"

"It's not magic," Katar growled, "it's Waterbending."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she grumbled, and then the canoe pitched. Katar turned around and gasped. They were hitting some pretty rough currents, and the ice was getting thinner and thinner ahead of them.

"Saka, turn left!" he called out.

"I got it!" Saka growled, but pushed the small boat in the opposite direction.

"Saka, I said left! We'll never get through here!"

"I can do it! Dad always went this way!" she argued and continued towards the icebergs and shifts.

"Saka, don't!" Katar warned, but it was too late.

They hit the ice hard, throwing them and their one meager bag of supplies onto the floating, tossing ice drifts. Saka cried out as she began to slide towards the water, and Katar grabbed the back of her parka, hauling her up next to him. He fought the current with as much hold on his Waterbending as he could manage to get them closer to the side of the river so that when they passed solid land, they could jump. The current picked up, and he saw a small outcrop coming up that would be hard to jump as it was right in the middle of a very sharp turn, but he watched as the current ripped the chunks of ice ahead of them up, breaking them into smaller pieces and forcing them under the icy water. He gritted his teeth, and used the momentum of the flow to push them faster and faster into the curve, hoping that it would be enough to project them from the ice up onto the landing. The drift pitched, and suddenly their were airborne and Saka was screaming. They landed hard on the ice, and Katar groaned as the back of his head hit the ground. He looked up and was relieved to find that his little sister had landed in a snow drift against the frozen wall. Once the relief had passed, though, his anger took over and he stomped over, pulling her by the front of her parka out of the soft snow.

"What in Tui's name were you thinking!?" he growled.

"Dad does it all the time-"

"Dad's not here, and he left me in charge of protecting you!" he growled, holding her coat tighter, "Why is it that every time we leave the village you have to test me and ignore me when I tell you something important? You almost got us killed!"

"Katar, I-"

"No!" he yelled, "I've had it for the last time, young lady! This sealbull-shit of you not listening when you're told something ends. Right. NOW!"

"Katar!" Saka cried, pointing behind them.

Katar looked up and paled. The glacier behind them had cracked under the pressure of his temper, and now the crack had reached all the way to the top. He pulled Saka behind him as the ice separated and pushed them back as if a massive storm front had just hit them head on. A bright light filled the sky and a dull ringing sound filled the air. His arms were still shaking and his breathing was coming in shallow when it finally died down.

"Well," he whispered after a moment, "at least there's somewhere for us to go now. Maybe there's a way out the other side. Come on, stay behind me, and for La's sake, listen if I say something!"

Saka nodded, her head bowed in shame. Katar tossed their supply pack over his shoulder and led them up the small icy slope. When they reached the top, he gasped.

"What the-"

A small, brown-haired teenaged girl dressed in yellow and red robes lay on the ground in the center of the makeshift bowl, a large white fluffy beast behind her. Katar quickly climbed down the embankment and felt her arm. She was cool, but there was an underlaying warmth that spoke of life. He removed his glove and placed his hand under her mouth and nose.

"She's alive!" Katar called up to his sister.

Saka hurried down after him and looked in awe at the younger teen.

"How did she get in the ice?" Saka asked in amazement.

"I don't know. Hey, can you hear me?" Katar asked.

Long lashes quivered and batted for a moment, until finally they opened to reveal tawny grey eyes.

"I have a question," she murmured sleepily.

"Of course," Katar agreed immediately.

"Come closer."

Katar leaned a little closer to be able to better hear the girl, who's face suddenly lit up with life, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

Katar blinked, not expecting that to have been the girl's all-important request.

"Um, I'm a little old for that, but yeah, if you want..."

The girl squeaked, then bent over coughing so hard until finally her nose scrunched up and she let out a massive sneeze, shooting herself fifteen feet into the air.

"You... you're an Airbender," Katar gasped in amazement.

"Yeah, I sure am!" she said cheerily as she floated back down to the ground.

"No one's seen an Airbender in a hundred years," Saka breathed, eyes wide.

"Really? I guess we don't visit this area often. Oh- Appa!" she cried, turning around and running to the giant, hairy beast behind them.

"Appa, come on, Buddy, we're at the South Pole!" she called.

The animal groaned, and a large pink tongue darted out and licked the girl, who giggled in relief and hugged his nose.

"Who are you, and what is that thing?" Saka asked.

"What? Oh, I'm Aann, and this Appa, by flying bison."

"Right," Saka snorted, "I'm Saka, and this is Katar, my flying brother."

"How did you get in there?" Katar asked.

"Oh, we hit a nasty storm on the way here. I guess I must have bent the air around us so much that it froze into a ball. That was pretty scary, huh, Bud?"

Appa groaned in agreement and Aann turned to smile at them.

"So, where's your village? Do you guys need a ride?"

"Actually, that would be great, since SOMEONE broke our canoe," Katar said, glaring at his sister.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'll listen better next time, I promise."

Katar nodded in acceptance.

"Well, climb on! Bet you've never been on a flying bison before."

"Come on, Saka, it'll be fun," Katar encouraged, climbing up into the saddle.

The girl grumbled, but climbed up as well and sat back against the saddle.

"Come one, Appa, yip yip!"

The bison groaned and jumped into the air, only to belly flop into the icy water.

"What was that you said about flying?" Saka snorted.

"Appa's just tired," she assured her, "after he's gotten some more sleep, he'll be good to go and I'll take you guys on a ride."

They arrived back at the village quickly, and their Grangran came to greet them.

"Grangran," Katar explained after they all dismounted, "I'd like you to meet Aann. She got lost in a storm recently."

"It must have been the storm to the west two days ago," Grangran assumed, "it looked to be quite trying. You are lucky you were not hurt."

"Two days?" Aann said with a smile, placing her hand over her stomach, "no wonder I'm so hungry."

"Grangran makes the best sea prune stew," Saka informed, "you're welcome to eat with us and stay in our igloo until you leave."

"Great!" Aann said with a smile, "thank you!"

The sun was setting, so they made their way home. The two girls sat down and Katar got out their bowls for their Grangran to dish up their dinner.

"This looks great," Aann said as she took the bowl, "thanks again for letting me stay."

"It's the least we could do since we'd have been stuck out there if we hadn't have found you," Katar denied, waving her off.

Aann took a bite of the stew and screwed her face up, but swallowed anyway.

"It's a little saltier than I'm used to," she explained with a tentative smile, but took another bite anyway.

"Sea prunes are an acquired taste," Grangran explained, "when I came from the North Pole, I'd never had them before, and the texture and flavor were not very appetizing. We have some dried kelp that will make it more palpable."

She took a leather bag and pulled a hand full of dried leaves from it and sprinkled it over the bowl. Aann stirred it in and took a bite, smiling back at the elderly woman.

"Thank you. I didn't mean to be rude," Aann grinned abashedly.

"Nonsense," she declined, "you did no such thing. Enjoy, young Airbender."

Aann smiled and finished her meal as they chattered about Aann's travels and their lives down in the South Pole.

"Our father and our warriors left years ago to join the war efforts in the Earth Kingdom."

"War?" Aann asked, "I haven't heard of any wars."

"How can you not know about the war?" Saka asked in amazement, "the Fire Nation has pretty much destroyed half of the Earth Kingdom. No one even knew there were any Airbenders left. We thought that all of them were killed a hundred years ago."

"What?" Aann snorted, "no, no, there's still tons of us. My temple alone had over a hundred Airbenders, and we're the smallest temple. I wasn't even aware there'd been an attack on the Air Nomads."

"Have you ever visited any of the other Air Temples?" Katar asked.

"When I was younger. All Air Nomads are raised at the Southern Air Temple, and when we turn 12 we get to go on a sabbatical for one year with our mentor. I wanted to go on a trip on my own, and since we didn't visit the South Pole during my sabbatical, I decided that this would be my destination."

"Well, I'm sorry there's not more here to see," Katar sighed.

"No, no, it's great! I may have gotten caught in the storm, but at least I met you guys! And you promised to take me penguin sledding, too."

"Katar," Grangran chastised, "you're too old to be penguin sledding."

"Oh, come one," Saka argued, "one time won't hurt. It's been so long since we went anyway, and all the kids are too scared to go passed the battle ship to go up there."

"So long as your chores are done tomorrow, you may go," she conceded with a sour look on her face.

Katar smiled gently and hugged the woman, who frowned at him in a way that said 'don't be cute'.

"I promise that everything will be taken care of before we leave."

"Tomorrow's going to be so fun!" Aann giggled.

Little did they know that tomorrow their entire lives would change.

~X~

"Lady Zuka," an elder, gruff voice called behind her, "you should be in bed. A young woman needs her rest."

"How can I sleep, Uncle, when the Avatar is so close?" she grumbled.

"You must sleep to have strength for tomorrow. Nothing more will happen tonight," he assured, placing a steady hand on her right shoulder.

He knew better that to touch her left shoulder. Many a times he'd seen men twice to thrice her size taken down for the simple action. Though the scar no longer brought her pain- nerves long since melted and hardened into a thick, leathered hide- the princess did not permit any to touch her scarred flesh, even by accident. Iroh had wondered for a long time if she would ever permit anyone to touch her at all, but he had found over the last few years that her horrible temper had begun to mellow and she allowed small touches from those closest to her, namely her uncle and his lieutenant, Jee, who was like an older brother-type roll model to the princess.

"I'm so close to getting to go back home, Uncle," she whispered, hands trembling even though her voice was steady and soft, "I'm sure that was the Avatar we saw. Nothing else could have produced that kind of light. I'll finally get to return to the Fire Nation. Father will finally be proud of me."

"I just hope you're not getting your hopes too high on this, Zuka. We've been searching for years. It could have been some other sort of anomaly."

"No," she denied as he guided her back below deck towards her chambers, "it was the Avatar. I can feel it."

R&R, please! Let me know what you guys thought!

-Mizuki


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Big shout out to my first two reviewers, M and ae2000x and my 72 other viewers this last week. Updates will be weekly (hopefully).

{Chapter Two}

Avatar

"We're not suppose to be in here. The Fire Nation is notorious for their inventions and mechanisms. Every step we take, we risk setting off a trap."

"Oh, lighten up, Big Warrior Guy," Aann laughed as she entered the main hallway, "we're being careful, right? Aren't you a Waterbender? You have to let go of fear."

Katar followed behind the girl, refusing to let her go in alone in case something happened and she needed help. As they climbed onto the deck, he explained where the ship had first come from.

"This ship was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks on our tribe. My Grangran was still a young girl when it happened."

The girl frowned and looked at one of the weapons leaning against the wall.

"Alright, back up for a minute. I have friends all over the world, even the Fire Nation, and I've never heard anything about any wars."

"Aann," Katar started tentatively, "how long do you really think you were inside the ice?"

"A few days, tops. I mean, that's when your Grangran said the storm was."

"This war has been going on for nearly a hundred years. I think that, somehow, you may have been frozen that entire time."

"What?" she snickered, "do I look like a hundred-and-fourteen-year-old lady to you?"

"Think about it," Katar continued, "the war has been going on for a century. You don't know anything about it because somehow, you were in that iceberg that entire time. That's the only explanation."

The girl paled and leaned against the wall, sliding down to sit on the floor.

"A... a hundred years," she breathed in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Aann," Katar sighed, kneeling in front of her, "I'm sure there's something good that will come out of this."

"Well," she said, still a little shell-shocked, "I got to meet you at least."

Katar grinned as the teen blushed, looking away. He held out his hand to help her up.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

"Let's look this way first," Aann said, going in the opposite direction of the exit.

"Aann, come on, this place is really creepy."

"Just this one last room."

Just as the Airbender said that, the door behind them shut. Katar swore and looked around for an escape route.

"What was that you said about traps?" Aann gulped.

A rattling sound started up behind them, and Katar turned. Aann gasped as the sight of the metal pieces around the room moving, and before they could figure out a way to stop it, a giant flare lit up the sky.

"Uh-oh," Aann groaned.

Katar looked up and saw that the flare had opened a hatch in the ceiling.

"Hold on," Aann said and wrapped her arms around his mid-section. He gasped as the tiny girl propelled them through the opening using her air bending. They landed on the highest point of the ship, and Katar wrapped his arms securely around the girl. She turned so that he was at her back and gripped his arms tightly over her shoulders, floating them from one landing to the next one until they were safely on the ground.

"We better get back to the village," Katar said, and Aann nodded her head in agreement.

As they approached the village the children flocked to the newcomer, excited that they had returned.

"You signaled the Fire Nation with that flare!" Saka accused, "I knew you were no good!"

"Aann didn't do anything," Katar growled at his sister, "it was an accident!"

"Yeah, we went on the ship," Aann admitted sheepishly, "Katar warned be about booby traps, but, wel, we kind of boobied right into one."

"Katar," Grangran chastised, "you knew better than to go on that ship."

"Don't blame Katar," Aann interrupted, "I'm the one who wanted to explore the Fire Nation ship."

"Ah-ha! The traitor confesses! Warriors, away from the enemy! The Airbender is hereby banished from our village!"

"Saka," Katar growled as the children skulked away, "our chief left ME in charge of protecting our village. Aann's not a threat to us. Grangran, as our elder, don't let Saka make this decision."

"I have to agree with Saka on this one," the woman declared, "I think it's best if Aann leaves. Intentional or not, we could all pay the price for her mistake."

"That's fine," Katar growled, " then I'm going with her."

"Where exactly are you planning on going?" Saka snorted.

"To find a Waterbending master. Aann's going to take me to the North Pole!"

"Really?" Aann stated in shock, then grinned, "great idea!"

"Seriously?" Saka huffed, "you're going to choose some floozy over your village- your family?"

Katar stopped in his tracks and clinched his fists.

"Katar," Aann whispered, smiling sadly up at him, "I don't want to come between you and your people. I think it's best if I go."

"But... so this is goodbye?" he sighed, "where will you go?"

"I guess back to the air temple to look for the Airbenders," she sighed, then gulped, eyes wide, "wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. SO not looking forward to that."

Katar smiled sadly and watched as the girl guided her bison away from their village.

"Katar," Grangran whispered, placing her hand on the young warrior's shoulder, "you'll feel better after-"

"Are you happy now?" he growled, pulling away from the elder, "there goes my only chance of becoming an _actual_ Waterbender!"

Katar stomped back towards the village as Saka directed the four boys and three girls aged 8 to 12 who here in warrior training under their tutelage to prepare for the Fire Nation. Katar rolled his eyes, thinking that his sister's paranoia was a bit overkill, and continued on towards their hut. He went about silently preparing the seal meat for their dinner, and ignored the others as they went about their day. About a half hour passed, and the earth began to shake as Katar swore. He rushed out, helping the elders and the small children into the healing hut, which was the strongest building in their village. As the last of them were safely tucked away, Katar looked up and saw that his sister was standing firmly on the wall protecting their village, a massive ship coming straight for her.

"Saka!" he yelled, "get out of the way!"

The ship crashed into the wall, sending Saka sprawling down into the snowbank. The barge lowered and a young woman maybe Saka's age approached them, flanked by a number of Fire Nation soldiers. Katar glared at her and wished he'd had the foresight to grab his sword from their hut.

"Where is he? Where are you hiding him?" the woman snarled.

When no one answered, her eyes searched the crowd and landed on his Grangran, who was a few steps away from him. She reached out and grabbed her by her parka, pulling her away from the villagers. Katar growled and pulled some snow up, trying to melt it as discreetly as possible.

"He'd be about THIS age, master of ALL four elements," she announced, and Katar thought that she must be insane if she thought the Avatar was in their tiny village.

The Firebender pushed Kana back into the crowd and Katar hissed, taking a step forward just as Saka gave a harsh battle cry and sprung at the woman. She easily dodged the attack and knocked Saka off of her feet. Saka dodged a blast of fire just as she threw her boomerang at the other teen, missing as she dodged.

"Show no fear," one of the little warrior boys called, tossing Saka a spear as she redoubled her attack. The soldier quickly disarmed her and knocked her off of her feet once again as Saka glared at her. As Saka's boomerang came back around it hit the woman's helmet and knocked her forward, but she regained her footing before it could down her. She growled, twin fire sabers shooting from her clinched fists. Saka gulped as the Firebender stepped forward, and Katar readied himself to step in, regardless of if it would hurt his warrior sister's pride, when suddenly Aang appeared, knocking the Firebender off of her feet and spraying snow and ice all over the children as they cheered.

"Hey, Katar, hi, Saka."

"Hi, Aann," Saka sighed, "thanks for coming."

Aann turned to the Firebenders and sprayed snow and ice over them, knocking the soldiers down, but the woman remained standing.

"Looking for me?" she growled, standing tall and squaring her dainty shoulders.

"You're the Airbender?" she gapped in surprise, "you're the Avatar?"

Katar's blood ran cold. The girl he'd found frozen in the ice was the Avatar, the one who'd been missing for a hundred years.

"No way," Saka gasped.

As Aann fended off the attacks of the Firebender, her staff spun, spraying sparks of flame around her, frightening the children who hid behind their mothers' skirts. Aann looked over her shoulder and she quickly swung the flames away, a determined look in her eyes.

"If I agree to go with you, you will leave this village alone!" she demanded.

"On my honor," she agreed, and Aann stepped down, allowing two of the soldiers to grasp her arms in restraint.

"Aann," Katar called, "don't do this!"

"It'll be alright, Katar. Don't worry about me."

He growled and clinched his fists, but the young Airbender just smiled.

"Take care of Appa for me while I'm gone!" she asked.

Katar admired her bravery, but saw the look of worry that passed her face as the barge closed.

~X~

"Saka, we have to save her," Katar demanded.

"Katar, I-"

"We're the ones who found her, that makes her our responsibility. I know you don't really like her, but-"

"Are you going to talk all day or are you coming with me?" Saka demanded.

Katar turned and saw that his little sister had already packed a canoe with a few essentials. Katar grinned and pulled her close to him, rubbing her head with his knuckles, "you're the best sister ever," he laughed.

"Come on, let's go save your girlfriend."

Katar glared, "she's not my-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"And just what do you two think you're doing?" their Grangran asked, and Katar quickly straightened up, Saka mirroring his expression of innocence.

She grinned at them and held up a bedroll, "you'll need these. It's a long journey to the North Pole."

"Grangran," Katar sighed, hugging the woman, "thank you."

"It's been so long since I've had hope, but you've brought it back, my darling Waterbender."

Grangran turned to Saka and smiled, "and you, my brave little warrior, listen to your brother."

"Yeah, okay, Grangran," she promised, patting the elder on the back as they hugged.

"Aann is the Avatar- the world's last hope for peace. You both found her for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with hers."

Katar nodded solemnly and sighed.

"There's no way we're ever going to catch a war ship with a canoe."

Just them, a groan sounded from over the hill and a pair of horns became visible.

"Appa!" Katar laughed, taking the roll and jogging over to the beast.

"You just LOVE taking me out of my comfort zone, don't you," Saka whined.

A/N: Tell me what you guys think so far! I know, Katar really should have stepped up as a warrior right then, but I couldn't think of a way to keep it close to the original order of events and didn't want to change it too much. Also, where's all the grammar Nazi's? I've had to resubmit my chapters twice each because I caught grammatical errors after submitting. Wish I had a beta,*sighs. But hey, who has time for that?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry it's late, life happened. This chapter we have our first POV from Zuka! LEt me know what you guys think!

{Chapter Three}

Agni Kai

Zuka's POV

Zuka sighed and shook her head as she waited for the bridge to lower. They had finally, after nearly a full day, made it to the nearest Fire Nation controlled port town to make the repairs on their ship. As she stepped onto the dock, she turned her head slightly to look at her uncle.

"Uncle, I want the repairs made as quickly as possible. I don't want to risk loosing _her._"

"You mean the Ava-"

"Sh!" she hissed, "_don't_ talk about her on these docks! You never know who'll be listening. Once word gets out that she's alive _everyone_ is going to be out looking for her, and I don't want _anyone else _getting in the way."

"Getting in the way of what, Lady Zuka?" a well-known voice purred.

Zuka tensed, a wave of disgust washing over her.

"Captain Zhao," she said through gritted teeth as she turned, "so good to see you again."

"It's Commander now," he bragged, chest buffed our like a parrocat, "your father, our lord leader, has recently blessed me with a promotion. And General Iroh, great hero of our nation-"

"Retired General," Iroh interrupted, smiling bashfully at the compliment.

Zhao nodded his acknowledgement and continued on, "the brother and heir of our nation are, of course, always welcome guests in my harbor. What brings you here?"

"Oh," Iroh chuckled, "our ship is being repaired."

Zhao looked up and raised an eyebrow at the mangled metal, eying the princess suspiciously.

"My, that's quite a bit of damage. What exactly caused it?"

"It's actually a funny story," Zuka chuckled nervously, then elbowed her uncle, "Uncle, do tell Commander Zhao what happened!"

The elder looked startled, and tossed a traitorous look at his niece before grinning at the Commander himself.

"Yes, of course! It's such a wonderful story! - What, did we crash or something?" he muttered to the young woman.

"Yes!" she declared, "right into... an Earth Kingdom ship!"

"Really," Zhao asked, smirking, "you must... regal me with all the thrilling details. Please, have dinner on my ship."

"Thanks, but we really need to be going," Zuka declined.

"Princess Zuka," her uncle chastised, "the Commander has invited us to dinner. Show some respect. We would be honored to join you."

"Excellent!" he cheered, "please, follow me."

"I _hate_ that guy," she grumbled.

"He is still the Commander, and this is his jurisdiction. We will not stay long."

"He asked my father for my hand in marriage... when I was 8!" she hissed.

"You cannot blame such a young, accomplished soldier for wanting to get the jump on your other suiters," Iroh grinned, amused by her anger in this situation.

"He's creepy! I swear if I hadn't been banished he'd have snuck into my room and made a scene before long!"

"That would definitely have resulted in your marriage."

"I'd have killed him on my wedding night, I can assure you," she spat.

"Then I suppose it's a good thing that did not come to pass, is it not?"

Zuka tried her hardest to rein in her temper throughout the meal, glaring at her plate every time she took a minuscule bite of the medium rare steak or custard greens.

"Princess Zuka, is something not to your liking?" Zhao asked.

"Oh, our lady has been watching her figure lately, have you not, Princess?" Iroh fibbed.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that there was something wrong with your cook. The meal is delicious, everything is perfect," she agreed, forcing herself to look up at the commander.

"Wonderful," Zhao smirked, " so tell me, how has your search for the Avatar been going?"

Iroh knocked over the delicately stacked fruit display, causing his goblet to clatter onto the floor, distracting from the conversation.

"My fault entirely," he chuckled nervously.

"I haven't found _anything_ yet."

Zhao smiled indulgently, "did you really expect to? The Avatar was killed a hundred years ago with the rest of the Air Nomads."

Zuka clinched her fists in her lap, gritting her teeth as his snooty, pompous attitude.

"Unless," he continued, "you're found evidence that he's alive?"

"No," Zuka denied, "I've found _nothing_. It's like you said, he probably died a long time ago."

Zuka stood suddenly and turned her back to the commander.

"We need to go. Our ship will be ready to depart soon."

"Oh, won't you stay for dessert?"

"Thanks, but I'm full. Uncle, we're leaving."

As she walked towards the doorway, two soldiers filled it, blocking the exit.

"Sir, we've interrogated the crew. None of them could conclusively explain how the damage occurred. The most common admission was that a Waterbender buried them in snow and ice."

"Really? I thought Princess Zuka said they crashed into an Earth Kingdom ship?"

"It all happened so fast," Iroh explained, "we were under attack by an enemy ship, as my lady said, and then suddenly a Waterbender appeared and collapsed the side of an iceberg onto our deck, causing us to crash."

"I see. I can understand how that would be confusing," Zhao admitted, "but it's still funny.I've heard no reports of any Earth Kingdom vessels in near here."

"It was quite a bit farther south," Iroh explained, "closer to the South Pole."

"That's interesting. Did our princess possibly think that this Waterbender was the NEW Avatar?"

"No," Zuka snorted, "absolutely not. He could barely even bend water at us without freezing his sister to the ground as well."

"But he caused so much damage to your ship," the commander pondered.

"It was a lucky shot. There's no way that guy was the Avatar. Come, Uncle, we're leaving."

"I think I'd like to discuss this... Waterbender a little more in depth," Zhao said with a grin, gripping her shoulder tightly.

~X~

Zuka was steaming by the time the commander returned to the room they had been unofficially quarantined to. The commander looked at them and smiled.

"My fleet is ready to depart. Once I am out to sea, you will be released to return to your ship and you will be free to go."

"Why? Are you afraid I'll try to stop you?"

He laughed outright at that.

"Stop me? Now, Princess, don't be ridiculous. After all, you said this Waterbender wasn't the Avatar. Why should you care what happens to him? Besides, it's not like your tiny warship could stand up against my fleet."

"_Don't_ underestimate me, Zhao. I _will_ capture the Avatar before _anyone_ else!" she hissed, rising swiftly to her feet.

"My Lady," Iroh hissed, rising as well, "that is enough!"

"You can't compete with me, Princess," he snickered, "I have hundreds of ships under my command. And you, while I have to commend your efforts, you have no home, no allies- even your own father is disgraced by you."

"You're wrong!" she growled, "once I find the Avatar and bring him to my father, he will welcome me with honor and restore my rightful place as crowned princess!"

"Don't you think that if your father really wanted you home, he'd have welcomed you by now, Avatar or no Avatar? But in his eyes, you have shamed him- you are a disgrace to the Fire Nation."

Zuka growled, shaking with rage at the incredulous statement.

"That's not true!"

"He gave you the scar to prove it, didn't he?" Zhao pointed out.

With a cry of outrage, she launched herself forward, coming as close to nose-to-nose with him as possible.

"Maybe you'd like one to match?"

"Is that a challenge?" he chuckled, "How cute."

"Agni Kai, at sunset," she declared.

"I look forward to having you at my mercy, Princess," he purred, "It's a shame your father won't be here to watch me put you in your place. I suppose your dear uncle will have to do."

The commander left the room and the elder stepped closer to his niece.

"Lady Zuka, do you remember what happened the last time you faced a master?" he warned.

"How could I forget?" she barked with a dry humor.

_'You will learn respect, and pain will be your teacher.'_

~X~

Sunset came, and an eerie calm came over her as she knelt on one end of the deck. Her traditional uniform had been replaced by more casual wear, maroon pants that fitted to her waist and ankles with golden bands, and a tight sleeveless vest with a high collar and an open midriff. Golden bands adorned her biceps, accenting her defined muscles.

"Remember your basics, Princess Zuka, they will be your greatest weapons. Zhao is temperamental and sloppy, but do not forget that he is a master."

"I refuse to let him win," she growled, and as the sun set, they began to fight.

Iroh held his breath as Zuka initialed the attack, blasting a stream of fire which Zhao dodged. The commander dodged once more then blocked a blast using his arms. The next one he divided, smirking the entire time.

"Your basics, Zuka, break his roots!" Iroh called, and she snarled.

Zhao sent his first offensive maneuver, ans Zuka struggled to divert the attacks from her center. Iroh gritted his teeth as she was knocked onto her back and watched wide-eyed as the Commander sent a blast of fire straight at her face. Zuka's face appeared to be in a trance, and he feared that she would not dodge the attack.

Then suddenly, she snapped to, and twisting her legs, knocked the master to the ground as she found her own feet, kicking fire mercilessly at him until she had him on his back. As Zuka stood posed over him, the Commander looked up at the princess with a look that said to burn in the depths of the underworld.

"Do it!" he growled at the woman.

Zuka let out a war-cry and sent the bast over the man's shoulder, and Iroh had never felt more proud of his niece in his life.

"That's it?" he snorted, "Your father raised a coward."

"Next time," Zuka warned, "I won't hold back."

Zuka turned from the defeated man and she smiled privately to herself. The Commander rose to his feet and took a step towards the victor. As the flames approached her turned back, she felt rather than saw Iroh move to block the attack. Zuka turned, face contorting in fury. She raised her arm to retaliate, and Iroh pushed her back.

"No, Lady Zuka, do not taint your victory," he hissed.

Zuka relaxed and she placed her hand on his arm. Iroh turned and sent a chilling look at the Commander.

"So, this is how the great Commander reacts in defeat. Disgraceful. Even in exile, my dear niece has more honor than you."

Iroh put his hand on her elbow, and turned her to leave the ship.

"Thanks for the gin sing tea, it was delicious," Iroh dismissed.

As they stepped off of the commander's ship, she asked her uncle, "did you really mean what you said?"

"Of course," he agreed instantly, "you know gin sing is my favorite."

Zuka smiled contentedly, knowing that her uncle hadn't misunderstood her one bit.

~X~

Katar's POV

"Would you sit down?" Saka snorted, "what's bugging you anyway?"

"Roku said that I have to master all four elements by the end of the summer. How am I suppose to do that when we're still weeks away from the North Pole?"

"Hey, calm down," Katar said, "it's going to be alright. If you'd like, I can teach you some of the stuff I've learned."

"Really?" Aann grinned, "that'd be great!"

"But first we'll have to find a source for water."

"I guess we'll just have to find a puddle for you to splash around in," Saka snorted.

Thirty minutes later, they were standing in front of a massive waterfall in a dense, quiet forest.

"Nice puddle," Saka sighed, flopping back against a tree.

Appa flopped down into the water and Aann cheered, "hey, don't start without me!"

"Aann," Katar admonished, "remember why we're here."

"Oh, right," she giggled, pulling her robes back on over the underclothes, "we're practicing Waterbending."

Katar sighed. Since they'd left the Southern Air Temple, Katar had been worried about Aann. She was action like she was okay, but Katar wondered if her air-headedness was her way of dealing with the devastation she'd witnessed at her once great home. She'd gone into the Avatar State when she'd found Gyatso, the monk who had been like a father to her. She had explained that when they told her she was the Avatar, she'd been confused and scared. She didn't want to be the peace keeper of the world, she just wanted to enjoy being a care-free kid, making friends, and learning the ancient art of custard pie making from her father-figure. She'd been up late one night, unable to sleep with the news of who she was, and had overheard Gyatso speaking with the Temple Elders, who said that when she went away to begin her Avatar training in the North Pole, he would not be allowed to escort her. They said that his attachment to the child was too strong, and his presence would only hinder her learning. She was angry that they would take her away from the one person who understood her and truly cared about her right when she needed his support the most and decided that if she couldn't be with Monk Gyatso, she wouldn't go to the North Pole like they had decided. Instead she would go to the smaller, quieter South Pole and go penguin sledding, hide out there for a while before traveling back once the winter weather had set in and travel to the North Pole would be impossible until spring.

"So, what's the first move?"

He smiled at the girl. She may have been scared of her future as the Avatar, but she was embracing her present as a Waterbender perfectly.

~X~

Katar groaned as he woke. His head was spinning from where someone had clubbed him over the head. He'd been trying to get some undivided time practicing with the Waterbending scroll, and it had turned into a disaster no matter that way he looked at it. Not only had he not gotten the form right, but he'd been attacked by pirates and clubbed over the head by Princess Zuka, and now he found that he was tied to a post on a dock next to the river.

"Tell me where she is, and I'll let you and your sister go free," she promised.

Katar glared at her and snorted.

"Go jump in a river."

"Try to understand," she sighed, leaning down to look him in the eye from his kneeling position, "I must capture her to restore something I've lost- my honor."

"Like there's anything honorable about capturing the world's last hope for peace and presenting it to the King of All Evil on a silver platter. Aann will die if you capture her. I'll NEVER tell you where she is, so you might as well just go ahead and kill me!"

"Maybe in exchange I can return something YOU'VE lost."

She held up the leather cord with the blue pendant hanging from it and Katar growled.

"That's mine! Where did you get it?"

The princess snorted, "I didn't STEAL it, if THAT'S what you're asking."

"Enough of this," a snarled voice demanded, "you promised us our Waterbending scroll."

The princess rolled her eyes before turning to the group of pirates with a grin.

"I wonder how much this is worth on the black market," she pondered.

Zuka smirked and pulled it out, holding a flame dangerously close to it. The pirates gasped and took a cautious step forward. Zuka smiled cruelly.

"A lot, apparently. Now, help me get what I want and I'll return the scroll, then everyone goes home happy. Search the woods for the girl and meet back here!"

"Fine," the captain snarled, ordering his men into the forest to search for the Airbender.

A/N: Next week things are going to really pick up timeline-wise, so heads up! I'll try to be on time next week.


	4. Chapter 4

As an apology for the late update this week, I'm posting the next chapter early! I'll still post this weekend, though. After that it may be more spotty, but more on that in the post-note.

So, I know up until this point, I've kept pretty close to verbatim on the scripting, but it's going to divert for a few episodes here because honestly... I'm missing volume 3 of EVERYTHING (long story) so I'm working off of Sparknotes type stuff here. I write at night while the minion's asleep (or pretending to be as it were) and don't have internet access at home because of my location( another long story). Anywho, on with the REAL story!

This chapter is going to cover multiple episodes pretty quickly, so I'm sorry if it seems rushed. Trying to get to the good stuff here!

Also, this chapter is dedicated to my reviewer by the name of M. You rock socks, dude!

{Chapter Four}

Jetta

She was messy, in a charming sort of way, but that did little to distract from the fact that she had a charisma that drew people in almost seductively. Not that Katar was really into the messy chick look, he had to deal with his sister's messes enough as it was, but that didn't mean he wasn't drawn to her.

"So, you're sister's really ditsy," Jetta bluntly stated.

"She's not as dense as she seems," Katar chuckled, rubbing his neck.

"Hey I'm a great hunt/gatherer!" Saka defended against Aann.

"Then why do you always bring rocks thinking they're nuts- and then eat them?" Aann scoffed, causing the younger teens to laugh.

"I'm sure there's some redeeming qualities somewhere," Jetta conceded, though she looked doubtful.

Still, she made him nervous, and not in a love-struck sort of way. She felt like the Freedom Fighter was hiding something, and Katar was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"She's bad news," Saka scoffed that night when they all laid down in the guesthouse.

"She might be a little overboard, but I think that's understandable considering the constant Hell they've lived through every day. I mean, Jetta saw her parents murdered by Fire Nation soldiers and watched as time after time they hurt more and more people. I kind of get where she'd coming from with this whole 'sabotaging the Fire Nation' thing."

Saka frowned and shook her head.

"No, it's more than just that."

"I think you're just put out because of her mad fighting skills," Katar teased.

"Mad is right. That' chick's down-right crazy!"

"Go to sleep, Saka, and quit being ridiculous." he sighed, rolling over to face the wall.

"Look, just, be careful around her, okay?"

"Goodnight, Saka," he intoned, causing the girl to mutter under her breath before she too settled in for the night.

Katar lay awake for a while after that muling over her sister's thoughts. Saka's instincts were normally right, and she had a feeling that she wasn't very far off this time, either.

She wasn't.

~X~

"Aann, what's wrong?" Katar asked while Saka was out "hunting".

"What?" she asked, having been distracted by her thoughts.

"I asked what's wrong. You've been in this mood ever since Saka and I got sick. We're fine, I promise."

"It's not that," she denied, "it's something else that happened while you guys were sick."

"Aann, I'm here. You can talk to me."

The Avatar sighed, "well, you see, while I was getting the frogs from the river, I kinda got captured."

"What!? Aann, why didn't you say anything?" he asked, panicked at how close they'd come to loosing her.

"I didn't want you guys to worry. Anyway, it was Zhao who caught me. A person in a blue demon mask helped me escape, but they were hurt on the way out, so I carried them off to a safe area. I took their mask off and found out who it was, and there for a minute, I thought that they were our alley. But, I was wrong- they're still our enemy."

"You said they saved you. They can't be all that bad, then," Katar pondered.

"Yeah, that's why I'm confused. I think that, if I were not the Avatar, and the Avatar was not so important to them, then maybe we could have been friends. Thinking about how, had I been friends with them before, they'd have become my enemy when they found out who I was, it's just got me down. I'll be fine."

Katar pulled the younger girl to his side, tucking her under his arm.

"Don't think about it too much. Not everyone can be your friend. Look at the bright side, even without them, we've met so many people already who've become life-long friends, and we're bound to meet more and more the longer we travel."

Aann smiled at him thankfully.

"You're right. Why obsess over a single person when there's so many others who're already there?"

But the young warrior could see the dimness in the young leader's eyes even as she spoke and knew that whoever that person was, they'd be on her mind for quite some time.

~X~

"Where's the fishing line?"Saka asked.

"Oh, I didn't think you'd need it," Aann admitted, holding up the thin, long cable with a shell on it.

"Great, now it's all tangled!" Saka whined.

"Not tangled, woven. I made you a necklace, Katar, since the one you were wearing got lost."

"That was very sweet of you, Aann. Thank you," Katar said as he took the cord.

The fish that Saka had been trying to catch jumped in the water, and she growled, pulling off her shoes.

"Stop taunting me!" she screeched, diving into the river after the fish.

Aann giggled at her from the river's edge and shook her head at the older teen's antics.

"So, how does it look?" Katar asked, and Aann turned to check.

She blushed when she turned and saw the Waterbender standing there with his hands on his hips, shoulders squared to showcase the gift.

"Um, do you mean all of you, or just your chest, because, ya know, both look great."

"Smoochie smooooooch," Saka cooed from the river, holding the fish to her chest making pouty lips at it as it thrashed back and forth, "someone's in looooov- ah!"

She cried out as the fish whipped her in the face and jumped back into the water.

"U-um, well, I-"

"Saka, quit teasing her!" Katar chastised, walking up the the Airbender, " Aann's just being her normal, sweet, adorable little self."

"Thanks," she muttered, pouting at her feet as Katar patted her head.

Suddenly, there was an animalistic growl, and they all rushed to see what was going on. An elderly man was calmly dodging a platypus-bear, almost teasingly. Despite their efforts to instruct the man, who continued to insist that he had everything under control, even as the beast came closer and closer to injuring him. Finally, Aann stepped in, and the animal became even more enraged. It reared back to attack, and Appa howled at it's back, startling it so barely it laid an egg, much to Saka's delight. The man thanked them for their assistance, but assured them that it had been unnecessary, as the fortune teller in his village, Aunt Wu, has assured him that he would return home safely. Saka, ever the pessimist, insisted that the lady was a quack, and that he was a fool for believing her, even as she was forced to walk in the rain while the other two walked under the umbrella that the man had been carrying under Aunt Wu's instructions. They arrived at the village located at the base of a large volcano and were told that Aunt Wu was expecting them. Intrigued, Katar and Aann rushed forward with Saka trailing behind them, still pouting.

"Now, who's first?" the fortune teller asked when she came to retrieve the new customers.

"I guess I'll go first," Katar said with a grin at the other two.

Saka snorted and muttered under her breath while Katar followed the woman to her divination room.

"Come, come, sit young Waterbender."

"You can tell if someone's a bender just by looking at them?" he asked in amazement.

"I have predicted all of the bender's in this village's abilities since I first arrived here twenty years ago. Please, let me see your hand. My, your palms are so soft for such a strong warrior. Do you use a special moisturizer?" she asked.

"Actually, I have a seaweed grease that I use to polish my weapons, but many of the women in my village use it as a lotion. I can get you some if you would like. But, tell me, what do you see in my future? I mean, romantically," he asked, embarrassed.

"Aw, a young man who's interested in love, I see. I do see something here, concerning the woman you are going to marry."

"Really," he gasped, "tell me more!"

"I see... that she is going to be a very powerful bender."

Katar beamed, excited for the new information.

"Really?"

"Yes. I see that she is not much younger than you, and you will have at least three children together, possibly more, and many grandchildren."

"Wow, that's amazing! Thank you!"

"Any time. Please, let us convene with your friends."

Katar was still grinning like a fool when he joined his sister and friend in the waiting room. He laughed outright when the fortune teller predicted that Saka would make herself miserable, as even Katar could have predicted that with her attitude towards skepticism. Aann followed the elder and Katar patted his sister on the shoulder before sitting down to wait for Aann's reading to be over.

"... that will decide the fate of the world!" he heard the elder yell from behind the sliding door down the hallway.

"I knew that already!" she cried, and Katar laughed at her dead-pan reaction.

Aunt Wu had been indulgent and kind to agree to Katar's request for a second reading later that day while his sister and friend gathered supplies and wondered the small village.

"Let me see your hand again," Aunt Wu asked.

He held out his hand and she turned it in the light, looking at the smaller lines on his palm.

"You wanted more details about your wife?"

"Yes, please," he pleaded.

"Very well. I can't say much for her appearance, but she will be your only major love interest, and you will live happily to a very old age. I see here that there will be a major life event within a year of your passing, which could be the passing of your wife, or something else entirely. I see minor losses in your older age, so I believe you will outlive most of your friends. Your marriage will be very passionate, and intense, and you will experience much struggle, but once your first child is born, your life will be much smoother. I see you will marry young and it will be some time before your first child is born. Um, this is interesting..."

"What is it?"

"You will not love your wife at first. In fact, you have already met her."

"What?" Katar gapped.

"Yes, you have already met her, within the last year at the most."

"I've met a lot of people this last year, but not many who were benders that I didn't like. Most of them were people from the Fire Nation," Katar explained.

"That would make sense. I see here that your wife will be your opposite in many ways, but that your opposing qualities will compliment each other."

"Are you sure you're reading it right?"

"See for yourself. See this line here? This is your relationship line. See how there are no other deep lines, only these two very faint lines? These could be crushes or deep friendships with a member of the opposite sex. These are your children lines, which include your own children, children you've taken under your wing, and your grandchildren. There are many lines here, and these first, darkest lines represent those closest to you, your own children and oldest grandchildren. These branches detail your marriage, and the depth of them how strong each of the associating emotions are. The chains represent complications, and the smooth lines show where things will be easier. These forks here are losses, and come towards the end of your life line. This dark intersecting line shows a major event, but I cannot tell which line this branches off from to explain it's meaning."

"Wow, this is really interesting. So, you say that I will die at an old age? Will I be sick? Injured?"

"You will die shortly following a birth, and will pass peacefully, most likely in your sleep. Now, that is all that I can see," the fortune teller sighed, standing up.

"Thank you very much, Aunt Wu. I'm sorry to have troubled you," he said with a bow.

"It is no trouble. Now, good day, young warrior."

He sighed and turned towards the market place.

"I should have asked her what to have for breakfast. Maybe a mango? Hm," he pondered, walking away from the woman's door, wondering who it is Aunt Wu could have predicted he would marry.

~X~

"Keep this flame from reaching the edge of the leaf for as long as you can," the general instructed.

"Sir, there's trouble!" a soldier called.

"What's happening?" Aann asked, intrigued.

"Concentrate on your leave!"he growled, following the soldier.

Aann sighed, watching the leaf and trying to keep the flame from spreading as much as possible, but after only a few minutes, the flames had consumed the leaf, and she was left with a small flame in her hand.

"Wow, look at that!" she awed, holding it with both hands.

"That's great, Aann, but he careful," Katar said from the edge of the river, ready to put out the flame should it catch on her clothes.

Aann tossed it back and forth while he warned that she was going to hurt herself, moving closer to stop her before she ended up burned.

"I wonder how that juggler did it?" she pondered, turning in a quick circle, spinning the flames out of control.

Katar had only a split second to raise his water up to block the flames from his face, but it left his bare chest exposed, and the flames hit him dead on. He cried out and hissed as his skin seared. Aann called out in alarm, rushing over towards him.

"Katar, what's wrong?" Saka asked, having come from her fishing spot to see what exactly had happened.

When she saw the burn across her brother's chest and he curled into himself, she growled, glaring at Aann.

"Katar, I'm sorry!" Aann called as he stood up, bent over, and rushed towards a quiet spot at the river to try to sooth the boiling flesh.

Katar hissed, pulling the water from the river to hold to his chest, hissing at the initial contact, then sighing when the cooled water took some of the heat from his flesh. He opened his eyes gasped as the water began to glow and the burn slowly vanished.

"You have healing powers," the general said as he came to kneel beside him, " some of the most talented of the Northern Watertribe have this ability. You must be a truly talented bender to have been able to do that without any instruction. I have long since wished that I had such an ability instead of this burning curse. Fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces us to walk a thin line between humanity and savagery."

Just as the words left his mouth, balls of fire came flying at them, and he told the young Waterbender to get his friends and get them out of there. Katar found his sister preparing Appa, but she said that Aann wasn't there yet, so Katar went to check the master's meditation lodge, thinking that she was probably there trying to clear her head. Katar knew she felt guilty and sorry for what she'd done, and quickly reassured her that he was alright before telling her that they were under attack. Aann rushed off and told him to wait with Appa for her. A few minutes later, they were in the air, headed for their final destination.

The North Pole.

A/N: I know I kinda brushed passed the whole Kyoshi Warriors episode, that was a plot whole on my part (my bad!), so just think of it as Saka didn't realize how strong a woman could really be, even though she herself was willing to face off against Zuka to protect her village. Tsake (maleSuki), for purposes of my story, is the grandson of the village leader (see A:TLA episode 4) and the only male his age on the island. After going through rigorous training, he was allowed in to be an honorary member of the Kyoshi Warriors. Instead of a skirt, his uniform has those heavy, pleated pants (See InuYasha). After a unanimous vote, he was voted to be the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. Saka teased him that he was such a girly-guy, saying that his pants still looked like a skirt, so you couldn't tell he was a guy anyway. And picture the kiss being a whole lot more steamy. Maybe when they reunite in season 2, I'll include a little flashback to their trip to Kyoshi, just to include it in the story.

Updates over the next few weeks will probably be scares, just know that I haven't forgotten about you guys! I have reached the point in my story where it's diverting from cannon plot and it's going to take longer to compile. Also, Minion has a lot going on health-wise right now (perfectly fine, nothing life-threatening) so we're going to be doing a LOT of running around and I won't have a lot of time to work on my story.


	5. Chapter 5

I know I just updated two days ago, but I want to get this out there for you guys to read over the weekend. This is it, the conclusion to part one! When I publish part two, I'm going to change the title to the Katar: The Last Waterbender series since I'm going to post all three seasons worth in one publication. Might split them up later as I edit (however far down the line that is) but I have a solid plan for three parts. Not sure about a follow up because I have another project I want to start on.

Honestly I'm using this to further my storyline building skills because I'm not really an author- I'm a storyboarder, and I'm pretty sure crap at anything but dialogue. I'm trying to work on telling a story with more descriptive details instead of relying on my illustrations to tell the whole story for me.

Let me just stop before I get carried off on something else again. All forms of feedback are greatly appreciated!

{Chapter Five}

Under Siege

Their arrival at the North Pole took a little longer than expected, but finally they ran into Watertribe warriors who escorted them into the beautiful city of ice where they were met by the chief, his heir, and the master Waterbender who would instruct Aann and Katar. Though he was not pleased at the fact that Aann was a female, he understood her place in the universe and agreed to make an exception to their rule of not training outsiders ( or women for that matter) to fight due to her being the Avatar. He would not, however, agree to train a member of the Southern Watertribe.

"If the Waterbenders who left here to travel to the south were not incompetent, you would not be the last one, and you would have had a teacher. I will not give away our Waterbending techniques to an outsider, even if they are from our sister tribe," the master denied, "if you are so insistent on learning, ask the women at the healing hut to teach you."

Katar was furious, but spent his time with the warrior faction, learning and sparring with the non-benders. Their teacher had no problem including Katar in their training, and even allowed Aann to join in due to her already being a warrior of the Southern Watertribe. The non-bending warriors were thrown, literally and figuratively, when Aann picked up their techniques easily and bested them. In the afternoons after warrior practice, Katar would leave his friends and go to the healing hut for lessons. Yugoda was pleasantly surprised to find a young man who actually WANTED to learn the healing arts and delighted in teaching him all she knew.

"You're a bright young man," she complemented.

"Oh, thank you."

"You will make a woman very happy one day. I see you have someone in mind?"

"What?" he asked, and Yugoda pointed to the pendent hanging around his neck.

"You've carved a stone for a betrothal necklace."

"Oh!" he realized, "this? No, it was my grandmother's, and then my mother's after her. My father gave it to me to remember her by when she was taken by the Fire Nation."

"I know this pendants!" she realized and smiled at him brightly, "this belonged to Kana!"

"You knew my Grangran?" he asked in amazement.

"Kana was one of my closest friends growing up. She was engaged to this young man, and then one day she just left without so much as a goodbye and never came back. I am relieved, after all this time, to find that she settled happily in the South."

Katar's jaw dropped, and he blinked in astonishment.

"You... you know who my grandfather was? My real grandfather?"

Yugoda was confused, so Katar explained, "my Grangran married my grandfather a month after she came to the Southern Watertribe. My father was born three months later. We all knew that my father wasn't my grandfather's son by blood, but we assumed that our grandfather by blood had died, and that was why Grangran came to the south."

"Goodness no!" Yugoda gasped in astonishment, "her intended is still alive today, and doing very well. But, I don't believe I should say anymore. I'm sure Kana had her reasons."

"I understand," Katar conceded, " there's no point in digging up old bones now. That you for teaching me today."

Katar met Aann that night in a secluded spot near the arctic river that ran through the city and she revealed some of the techniques she had learned that day. Katar smiled as they practiced, but suddenly a water whip knocked their bending water to the ground.

"I specifically said you would not learn here, and what do you do? Lie and betray my trust! I will teach the young Avatar no more! You can find a master somewhere else," Pakku growled, turning to leave them.

Katar was having none of it. He sent a water-whip to the master's head, and he turned towards the youngster with a snarl.

"You want to learn? Fine, then learn fast!"

They danced around each other for quite some time, and by the time the master had finally pinned him in a wall of ice, he was sweating. The master bent down to pick up something, and Katar realized that his necklace had once again come loose.

"This is my pendant," the elder said in amazement, running his fingers over the stone.

"That's mine, give it back!" Katar hissed.

"I made this pendent over 50 years ago for the love of my life, Kana," he gapped, entranced.

"Wait, YOU'RE my grandfather? You're the person my Grangran left here?" he gasped.

"Grandfather?" Pakku asked, confused.

"My father, Chief Hakoda, was born four months after my Grangran arrived in our village. We all assumed his father by blood died and that was why she came to the south."

"No," he admitted, bowing his head in shame, "that is not why. I pushed her away. It is my fault your dad grew up without a father."

"He didn't," Saka interrupted, "a warrior from our village married her before our dad was born. He treated our dad like his own, and treated us like his own. He was a good man, and never looked at us differently because we were not blood."

"That is good," he sighed, "that is good."

He released his new-found grandson and looked the young man in the eye as he handed him the pendant.

"Be at practice at sunrise tomorrow if you want me to teach you your birthright."

Katar beamed at him, nodding enthusiastically.

"Yes, Master Pakku."

~X~

"My father didn't even plan a memorial service for me," Zuka sighed as she sat with her knees to her bruised chest.

"Princess-"

"I'm not a princess anymore," she sighed, "I'm just a ghost of a princess. My father never intended for me to come home. He doesn't want me. He thinks I'm a failure."

"That may be true, but that does not change the fact that the Fire Nation is your home, and the throne is your birthright," Iroh explained.

"And how exactly am I suppose to defeat both my father and my brother for it, Uncle? My brother is psychotic, and a protegee to boot!" she groaned.

"Then you will train and prepare, if that is your destiny."

"I don't know what my destiny is anymore!" she cried, "for years, I thought that if I captured the Avatar and brought them to Father, that he would forgive me for what I did, but as soon as I'm close to actually doing it, his favorite militant tries to murder me, and he shows no remorse. I doubt if he even announced my passing to the people!"

Iroh sighed and she clutched her legs closer to her.

"Then tell me, what do you want to do, Zuka?"

"I'm so tired, Uncle," she whispered, barely audibly.

He smoothed her hair down, pulling her closer to his side, "then rest. We will decide what our fate is in the morning."

~X~

Their decision couldn't wait until morning, though, and later that night Iroh rushed to wake his niece up.

"Zuka, wake up! Zhao is attacking the Watertribe."

"And that concerns us how?" she groaned, rolling back over under her blankets.

"Zuka, listen to me! Zhao is planning to kill the Moon Spirit."

Zuka sat straight up.

"What? But that will throw the whole WORLD out of balance, not just the Watertribes!"

"I realize that," Iroh continued, "that is why I must stop him. I will not ask you to join me, for I know that you will see that as a betrayal to the Fire Nation, but you must be ready to leave as soon as I return."

"I'm coming with you," Zuka said as she pulled her clothes on, "this is bigger than just the Fire Nation or the war. If we allow him to do this, even Firebenders will be affected."

"You do know that your father will not see it as such. If word gets back to him that you live, you WILL be considered a traitor."

Zuka's gaze hardened and she nodded.

"I'm already dead to him anyway. I would never do anything to harm the Fire Nation, and you know that, so that is all that matters to me anymore. In this, I will stand with you and fight."

Iroh smiled tearily.

"You know, ever since I lost my Lou Ten," he sniffled.

"Uncle-" she interrupted, but he cut her off.

"- I have thought of you as my own."

Zuka closed her eyes and nodded.

"I know. I feel the same way."

Iroh smiled and brushed his emotional outburst from his face.

"Come, my girl. It is time that we decided our own fates, and the fate of the world."

~X~

They arrived at the Oasis just as Zhao had captured the Moon Spirit, and Zuka snuck around the back side of the room before he could notice her there and waited for Zhao to become distracted.

"If you harm that spirit, I will hurt you ten fold!" Iroh declared, much to the amazement of the Watertribe teens and the Avatar.

Zhao was snarling at the retired general, so Zuka quickly cut the bag open, letting the spirit drop back into the water. Zhao swung around and knocked her across the face before she could react. She landed against a large bolder just at the edge of the water and glared at the Admiral as the oasis water dripped down her face.

"You," he snarled, "I thought you were dead."

"Disappointed that your plan didn't work, Zhao?" she snickered.

"Not for long," he growled, throwing a flaming foot at her, and she dived into the pond to avoid becoming human barbecue.

'Young Princess' a soft, feminine voice said, clear as day under the water, 'you have saved my life, and in doing so have prevented a horrible tragedy from occurring. The spirits and the gods have always favored you, but now the spirits of moon and ocean owe you a debt. Know that in your moment of need, all you need do is ask, and you will receive.'

The water around her glowed and she opened her eyes to find herself sitting against the tree at the oasis, the Waterbending warrior from the south kneeling in front of her.

"Good to see you're away. Your uncle was worried sick," he explained.

"My uncle," she croaked.

"He's fine, he's with Yuuko, the Northern Watertribe Prince, explaining what happened to the chief so that you and your uncle aren't imprisoned or killed. I thought you'd drowned there for a moment," he admitted.

She groaned and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to get her head to clean. She looked up at Katar and frowned.

"What's that look for?" she asked.

"Nothing," Katar said quickly, "it's just, it's weird not seeing your scar, you know, the one on your neck."

"What!?" she gasped, pulling at her top to look down at her chest.

It was still there, but not as big or as bright as it had been. Where as before, it had climbed up the veins in her neck and down to her elbow and all the way across her breast, now it was localized to the very center, where the burn had been the worst and had burned all the way into her muscle, limiting her range of motion of her left arm. She lifted her arm and was amazed when it easily moved. She touched the smooth skin on her neck, down the top of her shoulder, and down her arm, shivering at the sensitivity of the new flesh. The small starburst-shaped scar at the left base of her collar was smooth and pain-free, not tight or uncomfortable on the surrounding skin at all.

"How did that happen?" she gasped.

"It must have been the spirit's way of saying 'thank you'. If you hadn't have let the moon spirit go before Zhao got a chance to hurt it, we'd have all been in trouble," Katar said, giving her a look of amazement.

"It wasn't that hard a choice," Zuka explained, "If he'd have carried out his plan, then entire world would have felt the effects, even the Fire Nation, and my people would have suffered for it."

"Your uncle explained what happened," Katar continued, "About how your father thinks you're dead and you have no intention of changing that."

"He'll never accept me back anyway," she sighed, "so what's the point? I was only after the Avatar because I wanted to go home. Now that's never going to happen. All I can do is do my best to protect the people of the Fire Nation from the outside."

"You'd be a good leader," Katar said, "even with your misguided ideas about handing over the Avatar to the Fire Lord. You do realize that if your father got Aann, that the world would just fall into chaos again, right, that we're already halfway there because of this damned war."

"But it's not going to stop anytime soon. No one is willing to give up," Zuka sighed.

"That's why we need Aann, because she's the only one who has a chance of ending it all. Do you really think that your father wants what's best for the Fire Nation? What actions has he taken that will directly benefit not him, but the people of the Fire Nation?" Katar asked.

Zuka was silent as she thought of the warrior's words.

"If Aann can face your father and win, when the war can finally end."

"Not if my brother is the Fire Lord afterwards," she snorted, "he's even worse than my father."

"Then you need to stop him- challenge him for the throne."

Zuka laughed outright, doubling over as her uncle and the chief of the North entered the oasis, "me, challenge my brother? You obviously know nothing about my brother. You see, my little brother is a protegee. He was born lucky, and I was lucky to be born. He can bend LIGHTNING like a master, and he's only 14. I'm still struggling with the basics!"

"You don't seem like you're struggling from my point of view," he chuckled to her, "I've been avoiding you for the last two months."

"Believe me, I'm nowhere NEAR ready to take on a master like my brother."

"And that is why I will train you, Lady Zuka," her uncle announced, "while we travel with the Avatar so that she, too, may learn Firebending when the time comes."

Zuka watched her uncle and the Waterbender in front of her as she thought about what her uncle said. If someone had told her even a week ago that she was even considering joining the Avatar instead of capturing her, the princess would have had them thrown in the brig. Now, she sat there considering her options, and thinking about what would happen if word got out that she was traveling with the Avatar, readying to fight her own family for control over the most powerful nation in the world.

The most hated nation.

And for what? Control over a world her father didn't even want to lead, only destroy and subjugate? Was that really the way to show the world how great the Fire Nation was?

She'd never allowed herself to really think about it much, though she had, especially after her injury. Not because of her injury, but because of what she did to receive it. She'd defended an entire platoon of young, new soldiers her father had been willing to sacrifice just to get an edge on a single battle, and not even the battle that would decide the outcome of the war.

She'd known it was wrong, and she'd been willing to stand up for her people. Would they see that, though, or would they only see her as a power-hungry princess, just like her father?

She sat there for a moment longer before she realized she'd already made her decision.

"Alright," she sighed in defeat, "alright. We'll join your group."

Katar smiled brightly at her, and she blushed, her heart skipping a beat.

'What in Agni's name- don't even GO there!' she growled to herself.

Sure, she'd noticed that the guy was pretty good-looking, in an observant sort of way. You'd have to be dead to not appreciate the art that was his body, honed my the harsh elements and hard work, like a fine dancer. But that was were she drew the line. Besides, she didn't have TIME for romantic interests.

Not that the Waterbender would have any interest in her, she thought with a hint of regret.

End of Part One

I know that things took a quick turn for non-cannon in this last chapter, but I'm going to try to hit the main plot-points for season two as closely to cannon as possible. Obviously, with everyone thinking Zuka is dead and Iroh is AWOL, their involvement with Azul's going to be a bit different. We're going to start building up our Zutara goodness in Part Two, but don't expect any MAJOR developments until the end of Part Two. Remember, I'm trying to stick close to the cannon events, and there's an event at the end of Part Two that is a major character-building moment, so I'm going to keep things kinda light until then. But come Part Three, when everyone's about to face the possibility of death, things will start to become more serious. Keep in mind that 12/14/15 year olds think and act completely differently, especially in a time of war, than 14/17/20 year olds, so be prepared for some rating increases. Not sure yet how MUCH that rating will increase (I've written about as mature as you can get before but don't necessarily feel like stories HAVE to take that kind of turn) but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I hope you guys have enjoyed Part One of Katar: The Last Waterbender.

Coming soon- Part Two: Go The Distance


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